Attention, attention, what has my attention?
6 May
I took a speed awareness course the other day. Like everyone else on it, I had been caught going a few miles over the limit, so I paid the 91 quid and took the course to avoid getting three points on my license. It was actually interesting and illuminating. Not only the bit where we found out how much longer it takes your car to stop if you are travelling at 31 miles per hour than at 30 if you…
Seeing red and the world going black
1 Apr
The power of someone else’s badly chosen words – that you can take and twist and torture yourself with, like roasting a piece of rotting meat on a spit. Or should you simply look at the piece of rotting meat, discard and move on? A bit dramatic? – well I am an ex-actor! This week at the Oscars, Will Smith acted on his fury at the words of comedian, Chris Rock, as he made a joke at the expense of…
And I went in anyway…
7 Mar
This was the day that I pushed through inhibitions and shocked my children to boot. I enjoy a swim, and on a Sunday morning at my health club you need to get there early to do a few lengths before the children arrive for “splash club”. So I duly trotted down to the changing room at 8:30am, only to discover that I had forgotten my bathing costume. Rats!! It’s time sensitive – I haven’t got any time to go home…
Do you suffer from jerks at work?
4 Feb
Whether you routinely work from home, or always in a public workspace, or are looking at taking advantage of new “hybrid” models on offer; how you are treated, respected and are able to “get on” depends on how you are spoken to, looked at, and how you communicate with others. Big time. You may have suffered, as I have, through working either as an employee, manager, or freelancer for organisations who allow and sometimes even promote a toxic way of…
These boots are made for walking…
7 Jan
These boots are made for walking… And that’s just what they’ll do. Sang Nancy Sinatra eons ago! I bought my granddaughter a pair of boots to give her at Christmas. Iris – aged 12 and ¾ months – LOVES shoes and boots. I hasten to add that she only has one pair of shoes and some wellies currently, her mother isn’t indulging her in Imelda Marcus style, but she picks up everyone’s shoes and has been seen to put her…
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year
5 Nov
Recently I wrote a post on my LinkedIn profile, and it was based around the following words: The particular trigger for me to re-call those words was that this particular day had not started well. The feeling that I was allowing to fill my mind could easily have turned it into a truly bad day. I had been doing a bit of midnight oil burning and needed a bit of “clockwork” working. However: I got early to work and encountered…
Who do you see in your mirror?
1 Oct
I am taking part in a writing challenge: #5daywritingchallenge This blog post is my first task. Who is the person I see in the mirror? I think that it is such an interesting and important thing to do – check out who you are, what is your unique mix of personality, interests, and traits, in order to put yourself into everything you communicate. It is equally so with either spoken or written communication. Clearly when speaking to someone, or many…
Careless mistakes – how do you deal with them?
3 Sep
We all make mistakes… how easily do you forgive yourself for the careless ones?? In the past I have spoken about talking to yourself like a sat nav when you make a mistake. Rather than beat yourself up when you make an error, the idea is to acknowledge the error and fairly immediately re-frame and change to a different course. Now, there are many well-known examples of people who have re-framed and re-framed and re-framed… Thomas Edison, who invented the…
Feel the fear and do it anyway?!
6 Aug
This is a well-known phrase, and one that many of us exhort ourselves to do, to encourage ourselves to stretch our comfort zones and progress in life. ‘No pain, no gain’ is another. However, how about when the fear is well founded, or overwhelming…? I am sure you will have heard about Simone Biles, the amazing American gymnast, who has pulled out of competition in the Olympics, citing that she needed to look after her mental health. She made a…
Banishing Burnout
2 Jul
So has your experience of lockdown been one of under work and boredom, or over work and exhaustion? Apparently both experiences can trigger burnout. In the overworking arena, the dating app “Bumble” has recently told its employees to take a week off to fight stress and “soothe their collective burnout”. They have closed the offices and insisted that they have an offline holiday. Other companies are giving employees half day Fridays and wondering how to ensure that their workers do not…